If Mozart Were A Grape …

It is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart today. Thus, I cannot help but wonder, if Mozart were a grape, what would he be?

Consider the following quote:

“The passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.”

I hear in this an embracement of a conscious pleasure principle; a reminder to remember pleasure; a rejoinder to self that one must never lose the light of pleasure. I hear in this the deadly seriousness of pleasure; I read in this the passion of depth applied to breadth. I feel in this the commitment to the healing art of pleasure.

To be deadly serious about bringing pleasure to the world.

Consider another quote:

“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.”

A deadly seriousness in service to the creation of the devoutly pleasurable; the craft of play; the work of bliss; the very real toil of magic.

And what is it to make wine, any wine, but to work with great seriousness at creating that which is greatly pleasurable?

And yet above all grapes, there is one above them all, within whose skins, seeds, and flesh lie the sugars of serious play.

There is one grape above them all whose very touch upon your lips, whose very weight upon your tongue, whose very dance down your throat, says “I am your return to a bright young morning when play was all you knew, and it meant everything.”

What grape, what wine, says joy with more determination?

“Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack post-horses; therefore be advised, let well alone and remember the old Italian proverb: Chi sa più, meno sa— Who knows most, knows least.”

What grape eschews counterpoint in favor of the sweet simplicity of melody, on purpose? What wine lets well enough alone?